I’m not sure I can watch an entire movie shot from the first-person perspective, no matter how cool the gun-related set-pieces. But I certainly understand why the filmmakers chose this option. You could even say it was inevitable, given the success of action movies like London Down, a video game masquerading as a movie. TTAG doesn’t cover FPS gun games, mainly because its editors are too busy working to play. But we know our audience is into them and may appreciate Hardcore Henry for what it is: someone else’s video game. So…what’s your favorite FPS shooter?

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125 COMMENTS

  3. I tend to like games everyone else hates.
    Section 8, Frontlines, Homefront, Quake Wars, Brink. If you’ve played it and hated it 10 years ago chances are I love it and am still playing it.

    • Section 8 was actually pretty damn good. I’d have been upset at paying 60 for it but I got it on steam for like 10 or 12 bucks and it was a blast. Short, but a blast.

    • ETQW and Brink were fantastic games that could have had much longer/better runs if they were better supported by their developers

    • Homefront was a totally underrated game. I’ve never played a game where I really felt it was my patriotic duty to beat the game (That opening sequence really pissed me off). But my favorite would have to be a good up between Halo CE and Borderlands 1

  4. The original 007 Goldeneye for N64, full stop, everything else since has just been a cheap imitation.

  6. Goldeneye for the nostalgia. My cousins and I would play that game for hours. We never really played the main game. Rainbow 6 for the later games and their one shot you are dead game mechanics. Lag was a real problem on dial up, so I didn’t have as much fun playing multiplayer.

      • Eh, Bioshock was actually pretty terrible as far as actually ‘gun mechanics’ stuff goes in my experience; the wrench was always more effective 🙂

        Everything else was fantastic though, and deserves a spot in a modern grade-school Civics class as much as Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. Rainbow Six: Black Arrow (yeah, the one everybody hated, lol) was fun on a bun, though, and among the first games I remember to feature extremely cutting edge, but also real, firearms (SR-2, G36, TAR-21, etc.)

  7. The Last of Us

    Not alot of ammo, guns really kill fast, story was amazing and brutal to the end.

    Fallout 4 close behind

  8. Technically 3rd Person, but Just Cause 3 has been hilarious so far. It’s like every Michael Bay movie rolled into one. Shoot an AR while jumping off the hood of a car you just drove off a cliff right before you wing suit away from the giant explosion that just happened for some reason.

  9. Leisure Suit Larry, late 80’s version.. It was what I aspired to become as a young man. Unfortunately I have had moderate success. OK. It’s not quite an FPS, but his goals were to be an “FPS” nudge nudge wink wink.

  10. Natural Selection 2. It’s like Starcraft mixed with Counter Strike, but too bad no one really plays it.

  11. Mmmm favorite. I don’t know, steam list is too big to go through. Off the top of my head, Far Cry is pretty good.

  13. Duke Nuke ’em

    I also was addicted to Wing Commander before they got so damn complicated I couldn’t possibly survive for 5 minutes.

    Most recently Call of Duty but I stopped at Call 4 when it also got too complicated to be fun. I enjoy the FPS stuff but really dislike getting killed all the time.

  14. Borderlands. I love the art direction, the combat is extremely satisfying and the writing is hilarious.

    “Buttstallion!”

  15. Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64. I have not been into video games since, so I’m not much of a judge.

  16. These sponsor names posts are trashing up your otherwise classy site. (Well that and the obnoxious toenail fungus ads).

    I bet if you had implemented this change before you sent out the survey, you would have heard about is from those of us who responded.

    Am I the only one who is really annoyed that I have to read Blue Force Gear and DeSantis Gunhide in the title of these posts?

    I realize you need to find revenue sources wherever you can, but this one brings down the quality of the product. Please reconsider.

    • We are getting a high quality site with excellent content for free. TTAG gets some much needed revenue to keep the site running, pay the bills, and have funds to pay for professional writers. I am having a hard time understanding why so many people who have been raised on commercial television and radio, and now even commercials in the movie theaters while you wait for the movie you paid for to start, are bitching so much about sponsored content as innocuous as a quote of the day or question of the day.

      If these posts bother you, move on to the next one and let RF go on making his living and providing this format for the rest of us.

      TANSTAFL (There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.) Robert A, Heinlein, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”.

      Also, “Everything free is worth EXACTLY what you actually paid for it.” Also a Heinlein quote, I believe, but I cannot remember the source.

  17. Here’s a suggestion – why doesn’t someone make an FPS training game for non-LEOs with realistic real-world defensive gun use scenarios? Seems like it would be a good training tool regarding force on force options, situational awareness, and all the other things everyday carriers should be conversant with, but a lot cheaper than real world FoF training.

    Training is good, don’t get me wrong, but it is expensive and time consuming and can only handle a limited number of scenarios and the outcomes (win/lose) are often at the whim of the trainers. I have seen more than one case where the trainer wants to drive home “The only gun fight you are sure to win is the one you don’t have” concept, which can be discouraging, to say the least. IMO FoF should give you the idea that if you do the right things at the right time you have a better chance of walking (or limping) away than if you do nothing at all.

    It would seem to be an ideal theme for FPS video training where you could work through dozens or more scenarios and outcomes.

    • “Here’s a suggestion – why doesn’t someone make an FPS training game for non-LEOs with realistic real-world defensive gun use scenarios?”

      Probably because it’s the scenario you *didn’t* train for that bites you…

      • Too true, which is why the limitations of FoF live training are troublesome. You get to try maybe 4-6 scenarios and the bad guys already know you will be there. A video version with dozens of possibilities would give wider problem solving opportunities and give the option to run the scenarios over and over to correct your mistakes – like most FPS games.

        • The benefits of FoF is not to train specific scenarios. The benefits come from pressure testing organic responses to real force.

          If you are “training” specific scenarios in FoF, you (or the trainer) are doing it wrong. Think of it as more of “Hands on OODA Loop Training” than practicing specific responses to specific inputs.

  21. Lot of good ones that I like but the one I like with the most gun variety no one has heard of was Vietcong 2.

    The first one was more polished but the 2nd one had the most diversity that no FPS developer has ever went. Show me a game where the AK, Vz-58, and StG-44 are in the same game. Or how about the BAR and M14, PPSh-41 and MAC-10, M60 and DP-28, Blunderbuss and M16!!! Then you have the Czech UK-59 MG (wildly underrepresented in FPS’s), Carl Gustav M45, L1A1 FAL, Sterling SMG, Vz-61 Skorpion, Mauser M96 “Broomhandle”, Mosin-Nagant, Tommy Gun, and a whole slew of American/Commie goodness with some European designs sprinkled in combining WW1, WW2, and Vietnam era weaponry all in one game that the vast, vast majority of games fail to do.

    http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Vietcong_2

    I dare you to show me a game that has an epic and diversified weapon list such as this one.

  22. Throwback I have to throw another vote in for Goldeneye for N64, still play that one occasionally and I don’t lose! Lmao. As for more recent I absolutely loved the Navy Seals Socom series, wish they would continue that one.

  25. COD 4: Modern Warfare. My absolute favorite video game . I had a weird glitch that my online profile would get stuck on a level/rank and every time I shut the Xbox off I would lose all my XP/New ranks. I would play against players that prestiged with a noob level, they would get frustrated when I would win matches, but had played almost as much as some of them.

  27. Huh. Deus Ex. The first one anyway. The later ones killed the vibe. It’s old and people complain about the voice acting but that is the game that always did it for me. Made me feel connected, yaknow? Particularly Battery Park and Castle Clinton.

    • You mean the game Deus Ex, or how this ‘movie’ is a blatant ripoff of the game? A full-on cinema version of Human Revolution with actors would have been a heck of a lot better than this garbage.

      At least I finally see how a truly realistic-looking FPS would work, and it’s not that appealing; too detailed, visually confusing, and disorienting jumbled mess. Simple HUDs, simpler controls, simple goals, non-distorted non-disrupted visuals, and responsive controls = harmony (COD2, Halo, Half Life 2+)

    • Deus Ex was great. I remember when I first fired it up and that theme came on. It took a bit to get used to, and I went loud a lot more often than I thought I was going to. I started out trying to be sneaky but I ended up sniping everything in sight instead. The way they wove so many conspiracy theories into the game was pretty cool. The second one lost the vibe of the first one, but I will say I really liked the latest iteration, minus the boss fights. I did play sneaky in Human Revolutions so boss fights were sometimes ridiculous.

  28. Yea this movie seems like it might give me a headache. But I am curious because Shartlo Copley is in it. He was the best part about Elysium, great in District 9 and Chappie.

    As for the question. I like Battlefield 4.

    • “We need more goo for the camera, Mr. Director”

      DIdn’t they say the same thing (headaches) about 3D and even Blair Witch? Doesn’t matter if both have proven to be garbage, the customers will still pay for it.

  29. The first BioShock steampunky guns but beautiful artdeco scenery and the atlas shrugged story line,perfect.

  30. DOOM, Blood and the Bioshock series (except for 2) are my faves.

    I’m not sure how to feel about a movie shot entirely in first-person, though. That FPS sequence in the DOOM flick was what paid for the ticket on an otherwise stinky movie, but it also didn’t last 90+ minutes.

    • Well, it’s for sure gonna make the “Hardcore Henry” video game look like shit (who the F came up with this name anyway? I’ll eat my hat if there doesn’t happen to already be a pornstar/movie by that name out there somewhere)

      • It was originally called “Hardcore” and made as an indie movie. A distribution company picked it up, but insisted they change the name.

      • I know, right? It’ll join The Italian Job and Blow in that club of rare movies whose title won’t need to be altered when it comes time for the inevitable porno knockoff.

    • +1, for the Orange Box ‘upgrade’ specifically. Decent gun selection & detail (not great or very realistic, though) but excellent/responsive controls and fantastic Foley audio work as well as voice acting. Great pacing & interesting world cover for a paper-thin storyline that doesn’t try to overcomplicate or distract from the playing experience. Perfect FPS video game.

  32. Insurgency is a good one with realistic gun handling. Another of my favs are Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and the Metro series.

  33. I haven’t played one since Doom II. I am ActionPhysicalMan, I do things physically or not at all! (mostly the latter).

  34. “So…what’s your favorite FPS shooter?”

    Marble Madness.

    Oh, yeah, I forgot, it’s not a first-person-shooter.

    In the mid eighties I was in the upright coin-op video game industry.

    As a result of being that completely immersed in videogames for 3 years, I burned out on them *hard*.

    For those with fond memories of that era, Google M.A.M.E. (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). Play all the games of your youth-hoodlum days.

    I’ll stick with my trackball and Marble Madness…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYsTvS3VCYQ

    • Oh yeah, jeez, I almost died from BattleZone back then. Had to swear the places off.

      • There are Battle Zone ROMs for MAME…

        And ROMs for nearly every other Upright and Cocktail video game every made…

        • Way ahead of you, there.

          Emulation is one of the most fun things you can do with a computer or smartphone. I even bought a $200 doohickey called an Nvidia Shield that lets me play everything from Atari to MAME arcade games to Playstation 1 on my 60” TV just like an ordinary console, and in Hi-Def to boot.

        • “Emulation is one of the most fun things you can do with a computer or smartphone.”

          Yes, indeed. There’s even a port for the Palm OS…

  35. The Battlefield games are always fun or the Stalker games. I like being able to use guns that I will probably never get to use in real life such as the integral suppressed Russian guns like the VSS. I’ve also been playing the new Tom Clancy’s the Division when I have free time between the kids, wife, work and everything else.

    • PS4, PC, or one for Division? I have the same problem with getting online with my friends. Lvl 8, all my friends are 16+

    • I am already obsessed with The Division. Most intuitive cover system ever. Super challenging encounters. Cleared level 30 on day 2 and the high end zones of the DZ make me look silly even with 110k dmg on my primary (a .223 SCAR). Great times.

  36. One of my favs is Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Which is basically “London has Fallen” – just change the location from London to Mexico City, and the baddies to Cartels and you get the idea.

  37. Payday 2

    Get a load of this list:

    http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Payday_2

    The whole spectrum. G17, Mosin, Milkor, MG42, SCAR, FAL, M134, WA2000, etc, etc and the modeling is pretty good.

    And add in the fact that you can add all kinds of barrels, suppressors, stocks, compensators, magazines, lights, lasers, stocks, etc.

  38. Gotta say, I still like Unreal Tournament GOTY edition. Yes, vintage 1999 or something like that. It is still great in network game mode. You can still find people around the world playing it.

    • The 1999 UT is definitely my favorite, and I still play it sometimes. I remember playing that with a bunch of my friends from all over the country, and using Roger-Wilco so we could talk smack while we played.

  40. Perfect Dark was my favorite Nintendo game, and I played Doom relentlessly on my family’s 386 DX2 machine as a kid. Then when we upgraded, I got hooked on Descent & Tribes.

    Haven’t played much of anything since Fallout 3 NV fried my laptop’s video card.

    • Also, Operation Flashpoint. I loved the sandbox/mission editor and various mods that people made. It was a pretty massive and accurate game in terms of Cold War-era arms, armor, and uniforms.

  41. I’ve been playing shooter games as long as I can remember. Doom was my first. Destiny is my most recent. The shooters that appeal the most to my inner gun nut were Golden Eye N64, Perfect Dark N64, Medal of Honor series, Call of duty 4 Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, Black on the Xbox, and Battlefield 3.

  43. Definitely ArmA 2. The sheer variety of hardware is a thing to behold, not to mention its ability to model light-infantry work surprisingly well.

  44. Original call of duty, online team matches where you only get one life per game, no respawn. Not seen anything like it since, and hope I don,’t, too addictive for me.

  47. Back when I had time to burn, my favorites were Castle Wolfenstein, Doom, Medal of Honor series and Black.

    Still play Black & Doom when I get a chance. Pity Black was never re-released on an HD platform or had a sequel.

    • “Pity Black was never re-released on an HD platform or had a sequel.”

      I know!!! That was my favorite PS2 game along with Resident Evil 4.

      • I remember renting Black on a whim wayyy back and being blown away by how little attention it was getting by, well, anybody. Weapon models were unlike any other on the PS2 or Xbox, destructability was top notch, and holy hell the sounds. This was pre-Frostbite engine in the Battlefield series and they still nailed it. I ended up beating it twice.

        Maybe some enterprising individual could get a petition/kickstarter going to get it remade.

        • I’ve beaten it a few times myself. I even got the special M16A2/M203 that they give you when you play on the “Black Ops” difficulty setting.

          And I’d second a petition for a remake/sequel.

  48. In no particular order, Doom (all of them), Killzone 1&2, Perfect Dark, BLACK, PayDay 2, SOF 2: Double Helix, Far Cry and many others I can’t think of right now.

  49. I don’t play video games anymore, but having a few computer science majors as friends does keep me in the loop. Escape from Tarkov looks pretty damn snazzy, seeing as the Russians currently developing it paid military personnel to be technical advisors in the weapons department. Has the most complex and cool looking customization options I’ve ever seen.

  50. Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

    Still has the best cover system in a shooter to date, mostly because it sacrificed a button to do so.

    Honorable mentions:
    -Deus Ex
    -STALKER series
    -Far Cry 2
    -Battlefield BC2
    -Counter Strike (1.6 and CSS)
    -Left 4 Dead

  54. As a young child? 007 Goldeneye. Red Faction I and II were excellent with friends, and the story was great as well.

    As a teen? Delta Force: Black Hawk Down. Shit graphics, but the gameplay more than made up for it. Followed closely by Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.

    Most recently, I’d have to say Battlefield 4. I’ve basically given up on Call of Duty, with all of this jetpack, 360 no scope mountain dew doritos bullshit. The last one I truly enjoyed was World at War.

    ETA: I’ve always been a big Rainbow Six fan. Even the later games were excellent, with their first person/third person cover system.

  55. Freedom Fighters; you save NY from soviet invasion, with ghost recon like squad commands. Also the old PC game “Shadow Warrior…”

    “YOU NO MESSA WIT LIU WANG!”

  58. Shoulder of fortune II for Xbox. The graphics were horrible but if you shot the gun of your enemy he either went to grab it or switched to the pistol. If you shot his shooting arm he would switch hands. If you popped him in the head blood would squirt out of the neck three times before he hit the ground. After that goldeneye on 64. And we can’t forget duck hunting on the orginal!!

  59. Red Orchestra Series. Reenacting the Meat Grinder between the Nazis and Soviets is always epic in fps.

  60. Rainbow Six Siege hands down. The Division is good, but its not a FPS so I’m not sure why it’s mentioned.

  63. Half-Life 2 is still the king. The FarCry series is killing it. The first Crysis was amazing. Those games have gotten worse and worse as time goes on (they still look awesome).

    No way am I going to sit through Hardcore Henry. Just watch some FreddyW videos for your videogame-in-the-real-world fix.

  64. Used to be Counter-Strike, back in the 1.6 days, but now it’s Overwatch, so much fun. Also no way am I seeing that awful looking first person movie.

  65. I know they’re third person, but the Uncharted games and The Last of Us. Both developed by Naughty Dog.

  66. Okay, so it’s third person, but I LOVED Resident Evil 4… It just felt… Right. Not to mention all the guns are real/closely based on real guns.

    Other than that the most recent one I’ve played is Boshock Infinite. Quite a fun game.

  67. Currently: Tribes: Ascend and Fallout 4, with Black Mesa: Source thrown in from time to time, and patiently waiting for the Xen chapter to drop.

    Past games I enjoyed: Wolfenstein 3D, Quake/Quake2 (Arena didn’t thrill me), Starsiege Tribes (Ascend is a bastardization, with a slew of bullet weapons to bring in the COD kiddies. That and they’ve always felt wonky to me, and partnered with the buggy net code, makes consistent aiming a fools errand), and the original Half Life.

  69. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Love the variety of guns and the enemies.

    Half-life – Love that the AI would actually use tactics and try to flank you.

    Far Cry (original)

  70. Perfect Dark for the N64, it was an actual improvement on Goldeneye.
    Doom series original and with the Brutal Doom Mod… AMAZING
    Star Wars Dark Forces
    Halo is another natural great
    I played the crap out of Counter Strike 1.6 and Call of Duty MW 1 & MW 2
    Gears of War though not first person
    Half Life 1, 2, etc.

  71. Destiny right now (excellent shooter, good use of co-op). Tried Division on the open beta weekend, looks pretty good, but I have enough on my plate right now I didn’t buy it. Emphasis on cover & tactics, good use of real world guns and modifications, but the gunplay takes a little too many bullets to put things down.

    Borderlands 1 & 2 probably all time favorite. Ghost Recon was a favorite for a very long time. And Marathon and Deus Ex back in the day.

  74. I always liked the early Rainbow Six games for realism.

    COD2 and Battlefield 1942 were always good even if less realistic. Battlefield 2 was my favorite back on the day.

    Far Cry 3 recently was pretty fun even though not realistic in a lot of ways.

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